Contemporary Kurdish winter‐time inhabitants of Shanidar cave, Iraq

Abstract

A contemporary seasonal settlement of about forty‐five Kurds with their animals at Shanidar Cave, a major archaeological site, presents an interesting study. It has possibilities for inferences to the top cultural horizons in the recent archaeological deposits in the cave. The inhabitants occupy what appear to be unusually small, flimsily constructed huts ranged around the interior of the cave. The floor area of the houses per inhabitant is much smaller than that generally found to be true in ethnographic examples quoted in the literature. The reason for the exception here appears to be that the Shanidar inhabitants sacrificed their house sizes to provide shelter for their animals in the limited cave area. Moreover, but in secondary importance, because the cave formed a primary shelter, large houses were not needed.

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